FORMER CRO ARMY MEMBERS ACCUSE CROATIAN OFFICIALS AND ICTY

( Editorial: --> 7617 ) ZAGREB, 27 Jan (Hina) - Three former Croatian army members said that "the highest Croatian officials" had refused to listen to their testimonies on several dozen executions carried out by Croatian army members in Gospic, during the aggression on Croatia in 1991, several foreign news agencies from Zagreb reported on Tuesday. According to Agence France Presse, the three said they regretted the fact that the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had not reacted promptly to their information. They told reporters that they had testified, given documents and video and audio tapes to ICTY investigators in August, 1997 in Zagreb. ICTY spokesman in The Hague Christian Chartier could neither confirm nor deny that the Tribunal was conducting an investigation on what had happened in the area of Gospic. He told Reuters it was difficult for the ICTY "to arrange protection for witnesses who are not fully cooperative and who may compromise our work". Hina inquired about the allegations of the three former Croatian army members in the Interior Ministry information department. On 16 December last year, "on the basis of an interrogation of Ropac, Levar and Bando", charges had been brought against an unidentified perpetrator for the murder of several residents of Karlobag with the Gospic public attorney's office, Interior Ministry officials said. The Interior Ministry added a special report in the charges. On the basis of the charges and the report, the investigating judge of the Gospic county court investigation centre has opened an investigation which is under way, Interior Ministry officials said. (hina) mm rm 272028 MET jan 98